As soon as I started my ESL lessons and my Strategic Information Technology Management class at UT I noticed this enormous difference. Where I come from, it is not very common to receive students from other counties; It could be because my city is pretty small or because we live surrounded by Spanish speaking countries and we do not notice the variety and cultural diversity.
I met new friends on the "One dollar beer night" in the bar next door, and realize they all were from different countries. Stories are really awesome, and talking with them during these two weeks, I could understand how important is having this exchange experience.
These are some of the experiences I have learned: Andreas from Norway has been here for six months and is in the middle of his exchange program. He lives in a house with 5 guys from different countries, and is surprised about the lifestyle and the quantity of Norwegians who study at UT. Gabriel is Mexican, he has been living in Austin for 4 years and says he do not miss his family or life in Mexico. Bret is from Albany; once finished high school, his father told him to come to US to study because there were more opportunities; and he did so. He came in 2013 and visits Italy (his family now live there) once a year for two weeks. He really enjoy living in Texas alone.
I did not have time to talk deeply to other guys yet, but every single story is interesting and show me how far I lived from this reality. Until now, I always though that studying abroad was for degree, masters or postgraduate studies, but I am realizing that I was wrong, that opportunities are for every stage of a student life and we should take them whenever we can.
I never imagined that this sort of internships were so important to hundreds of students around the world. They leave their homes and families for years in order to study here and have a better education and English level. Many of exchange students are at UT for a semester or a year, what is awesome because they decide to study a year longer in a foreign country.
I would like to share the importance of how students from countries in war, are friends here and do not care about political situations between their States. That is the case of YuTing from Taiwan and Janet from China. The same happen with Ali from Saudi Arabia and Fahad from Kuwait. The point is that exchange students grow up in a mature way and learn about serious relationships and international contact.
I finish this post with an interesting phrase I found: To create more positive results in your life, replace "if only" with "next time"
IN THIS NOTE I LEARNED: STUDY ABROAD, FRIENDSHIP